City Ruled Liable For Late Ambulance

The City of Chicago can be held liable for damages if Fire Department ambulances show ``gross negligence`` by not responding promptly to emergency calls, the Illinois Appellate Court ruled Thursday.

The court also upheld a ruling that a school district can be liable for not providing timely medical treatment.

The rulings came in an opinion upholding a jury verdict in Cook County Circuit Court on Nov. 8, 1984, awarding $2.5 million to Daniel Barth, now 18, who waited almost an hour for a Chicago Fire Department ambulance to arrive at McKay School, 6901 S. Fairfield Ave., after the boy suffered a severe head injury while playing kickball.

Barth`s attorney, Fred Lambruschi, said he believes it is the first time an Illinois higher court has ruled that the city is liable for damages because an ambulance did not respond on time.

``I don`t know of any decision on this anywhere in the country,`` he said.

Lambruschi said the ruling also is the first time in Illinois that a school district has been found liable for gross negligence for failing to provide timely medical treatment.

A spokesman said the Chicago Fire Department would not comment on the ruling.

The jury assessed half the damages to the city, saying the ambulance was slow in responding, and half to the Chicago Board of Education, saying that school officials failed to take the child to Holy Cross Hospital--located across the street from the school--or at least to call the hospital for help. If the ruling is upheld on appeal, Lambruschi said, the city will be liable in any similar situation if its ambulances show gross negligence in responding. If any delay is a result of simple carelessness, he said, the city is not likely to be held responsible.

``It has to be a case of gross negligence, not an `iffy` situation, and the determination will have to be made by a jury,`` he said.

Barth, who was 11 when he was injured on Oct. 30, 1978, was playing kickball during recess at about 10:35 a.m. when he and a classmate collided head-on while both were trying to catch the ball.

Holding his head and stomach, Daniel was walked to the principal`s office by a teacher`s aide and seated on a bench. A secretary called the parents of each boy and Daniel`s mother told the secretary to take him to a hospital. She said she would meet him there.

After Daniel vomited and complained of a headache, the secretary called the ``911`` emergency number for an ambulance at 11 a.m.

She called again at 11:30 a.m., when none had arrived, and an assistant principal called a third time at 11:45 a.m.

The ambulance arrived at 11:48 a.m. and reached Holy Cross Hospital two minutes later. In their defense during the trial, lawyers for the school board argued that administration rules required school officials to wait for an ambulance to take the child to a hospital.

At the trial, doctors testified that the delay allowed a blood clot to grow to the size of an orange on Daniel`s brain but that treatment an hour earlier would only have resulted in a short hospitalization.

Daniel is now partially paralyzed, suffers from brain damage and walks with the aid of a cane. He also has double vision and is enrolled in a high school special education program, Lambruschi said.

The city and Chicago Board of Education both contended that they were immune from damages because Illinois law protects government agencies from liability in situations in which they have to exercise discretion, but the appellate court ruled that such immunity does not cover gross negligence.